One in every eleven persons born in Mexico has gone to the U.S. The National Review reported that in 2014 $1.87 billion was spent on incarcerating illegal immigrant criminals….Now add hundreds of billions for welfare and remittances! MICHAEL BARGO, Jr…… for the AMERICAN THINKER.COM

U.S. immigrant

deportations fall to

lowest level since

2007

The Obama administration deported 333,341 unauthorized immigrants in the 2015 fiscal year, a decline of about 81,000 (or 20%) from the prior year, according to newly released data from the Department of Homeland Security. The number of deportations fell for the second year in a row and reached its lowest level since 2007, during the George W. Bush administration.

The decline in deportations occurred among non-criminal and criminal immigrants alike. Deportations of immigrants without a criminal conviction fell from 247,000 in 2014 to 193,000 in 2015, a 22% drop and the first in four years. Deportations of immigrants with a criminal conviction fell 17% between fiscal 2014 and 2015, from 168,000 to 140,000. It is only the third time that the number of deportations of immigrants with a criminal conviction has fallen since at least 1981. (Fiscal 2016 data are not yet available.)

One reason for the decline in apprehensions in recent years is an overall decrease in the number of immigrants (both legal and unauthorized) coming to the U.S., especially from Mexico. (A Pew Research Center analysis shows that between 2009 and 2014 more Mexicans were returning home to Mexico than were arriving in the U.S.) Meanwhile, stricter border enforcement by the U.S. has also played a role in this trend.

The Obama administration recently changed its deportation enforcement priorities, focusing exclusively on those who have been convicted of a crime; those deemed a threat to the public safety; and those who have recently crossed the border. Last year (2015) marked a major shift on this front, with those convicted of an aggravated felony making up 81% of all convicted criminals deported by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, up from 51% in fiscal 2014. This change, along with a low level of cooperation from state and local law enforcement agencies, also may have contributed to the decline in the number of criminal deportations in fiscal 2015.

About 2.8 million immigrants have been deported by the Obama administration between 2009 and 2015, including a record 435,000 in 2013 alone, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of Department of Homeland Security data. By comparison, the Bush administration deported 2 million immigrants between 2001 and 2008.

U.S. immigration policy was one of the most discussed issues in this year’s presidential campaign, with Donald Trump making it a key part of his campaign. After his election, President-elect Trump has said he will deport 2 to 3 million immigrants with prior criminal convictions living in the U.S.

"For decades now, Islamic radicalism has been a dominant factor in worldwide terrorism."

No Brain Required to Import Terrorists

One of life’s great mysteries is the fact that people with high intelligence scores are so often stupid -- not just stupid, but breathtakingly so.

I have seen it in my personal and professional life, as I am sure that you have also. Examples abound. Here is just one. I once worked for an organization that was obviously failing. A concerned, high-ranking person asked me if I had noticed any problems in the company. I listed several, all of them significant. He then gave me a blank stare, and said something to the effect, Good, I’m glad to see there are no problems -- and walked away.

Here is a more serious one, one which you also, no doubt, have noticed. For decades now, Islamic radicalism has been a dominant factor in worldwide terrorism.It is so blatantly obvious that no one, we would think, could possibly have missed it. Yet, seemingly intelligent people steadfastly refuse -- absolutely refuse -- to acknowledge that fact. Absurd excuses are made for cold-blooded murderers who ruthlessly kill and maim innocent children, women and men, and who do so not only without remorse, but with glee.

Barack Obama has suggested that the problem stems from unemployment among young Arab men. Others blame oppression by Israelis. Western imperialism is cast as the villain. How about the Crusades?

By blaming everyone except the terrorists themselves, it then became logical, in a distorted way, to import young Arab men by the hundreds of thousands into Europe, and by the many thousands into the United States. Once they got here, the reasoning went, they would adopt Western values, and peacefully prosper by doing so.

As the imported terrorists began racking up their macabre toll of murders, rapes and other violent crimes, one would think that this would have had some impact upon those who imported them, a decent sense of regret. No. Instead, the woman who almost became the U.S. president had vowed to import even more of them. More!

Angela Merkel of Germany did in fact import about a million into the nation she leads, and at long last the German people are beginning to take some notice, despite the attempts of their government to conceal the rape statistics which skyrocketed after the mass immigration. The German government response: German women should dress more modestly. My thought: perhaps they should wear burkahs, and never go out of the house without a male relative. After all, that’s what they do in Mecca, don’t they?

The theory seems to have been that imported Arabs would adopt Western values, and assimilate into Western culture, as have immigrant Asians and Africans. Are Arabs any different?

Of course they are. You and I know that. When we see news video of throngs of Arab men ranting in the streets of London, demanding that Shariah law be imposed, it becomes obvious that assimilation is the last thing these people desire. Instead, they insist that we must submit ourselves to their way of life, and by extension, death.

We finally have an incoming president who recognizes the obvious, and is unafraid to give voice to those of us who also notice it. Like us, he has been ridiculed and vilified for mentioning it. We expect him to act decisively and swiftly to end the inexplicable stupidity, the madness, by which our previous leaders got so many of us killed.

Islam Is the Problem

“Islam is not the problem,” proclaims the Left. And if you say otherwise, you’re a “racist,” even though “Muslim” is not a race. Yet a fact remains: virtually all the world’s terrorists today claim Islamic motivations. So if Islam (belief) is not the problem, are we then left with a genetic explanation for this violence? Is there something inherent in the groups generally embracing Islam — Arabs, Persians, Indonesians, Punjabis, etc. — that would account for it? And, hey, I’m just asking; it’s the liberals who profess ideas suggesting this possibility.

Consider: When analyzing WWII and Germany, few claim the problem was Germans, but Nazism. When looking at 1917 Russia, we don’t say the problem was Russians, but Marxism. So fill in the blank: when evaluating the Muslim world and its violence, do we assume the problem is the people or _____?

Then there are other explanations for Muslim violence, all of which amount to Islamsplainin’. Poverty is one, but the Muslim world is not uniquely poor. There are many millions of poor Catholics in South America, Africa and elsewhere; and hundreds of millions of poor Hindus in India. Yet they aren’t committing terrorist acts. And Osama bin Laden was worth $125 million.

Another excuse is U.S. “meddling” in Muslim nations’ affairs; our taking Israel’s side in the Mideast is always Exhibit A. But there’s simply no good correlation between American interventionism and Muslim violence. Many nations and regions, such as Nigeria, Kashmir, Sudan, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso and Mali, have problems with Islamic terrorism in the absence of a Yankee hand.

In fact, it isn’t unusual for Muslim nations to occupy 8 spots on a list of the world’s 10 most dangerous countries (examples found here and here). It also isn’t unusual for a non-Muslim nation in the top 10 to be a country such as North Korea or Central African Republic, the latter of which is 15 percent Muslim. This is no surprise, mind you, if we’re to believe a comprehensive German study of 45,000 youths that was reported in 2010. It found that while increasing religiosity among the Christian youths made them less violent, increasing religiosity among the Muslim youths actually made them more violent.

When evaluating Islam and seeking to understand such phenomena, a simple but important point is never made. Christians may use as a guide for behavior, “What would Jesus do?” (WWJD); likewise, Muslims view Mohammed as a role model, considering him “the Perfect Man.” But there is a difference.

I’ve heard leftists diminish Jesus, saying things such as He wasn’t divine, He never existed, we don’t know anything about Him, He had brothers and that He was married. What I’ve never heard them say — it might have been uttered but is rare enough to have eluded my ears — is that He wasn’t a good man. This is why instead of condemning Jesus, un-Christian movements will often seek to co-opt His story for their own purposes, as the Nazis did with their so-called “Positive Christianity.” That’s how unassailable Jesus is as a model for behavior.

What of Mohammed? He was a warlord who launched close to 30 military campaigns, many of which he led himself. He was a caravan raider (a bandit) and captured, traded in and owned slaves (note: will liberals suggest slave-owning Mohammed be diminished, as they have sought to erase our founders’ memory?). He ordered massacres, used torture and had dissidents assassinated. He was a polygamist and made it lawful for masters to have sexual relations with their female captives. Mohammad also wasn’t very fond of dogs, an attitude begettingtheir mistreatment in the Islamic world (warning: last three links are disturbing).

One could quip here, if the dog is man’s best friend and Mohammad hated dogs, was he really part of the family of man? But, in fairness and as I’ll acknowledge, as with Attila the Hun, Genghis Khan or Tamerlane, Mohammad was largely a man of his time and place. And I’d be happy to let him rest in peace and put his memory to bed — except for one thing: more than a billion people worldwide won’t. This brings us to that seldom heard point.

If someone said Attila the Hun, Genghis Khan or Tamerlane was “the Perfect Man” and used him as his role model, would you turn your back on that person?

It’s not just the “freedom from guilt” by association phenomenon, where, as Hollywood does, people are made to have an affinity for a character for the purposes getting them to accept what he’s associated with (e.g., homosexuality). Nor is it akin to admiration for George Washington or Thomas Jefferson, which would wisely be tempered with the knowledge that they were, like everyone else, humans with flaws. For there simply is no room for criticism of a “Perfect Man,” no way to say “Alright, I’ll take the good he did and run with it and ignore the bad.” If a perfect man does something, it cannot be bad.

So is it fair to say that in the Islamic world, spreading religion by the sword, murder, rape and slavery have the sanction of a perceived embodiment of perfection? If much of the Islamic world appears mired in a medieval mentality, it could be because they’re modeling after a medieval man.

Yet what mainly plagues us is not Muslims’ enslavement to misbegotten ideas, but our own. For example, many Westerners cannot open their minds to the possibility that any religion could be a destructive force because they’re in the grip of a destructive force themselves: Religious Equivalence Doctrine, which holds as dogma that all faiths are morally equal.

Some may say a solution to this is, as they put it, to “realize Islam is not a religion.” I hope these people will read the following with an open mind, because I believe this is a misguided notion that itself is dangerous.

The idea is thought to have utility: declassify Islam as a religion and rob it of First Amendment protection. Yet how much good would this do? The amendment also guarantees freedom of speech and allows even secular beliefs such as Nazism and Marxism to be promoted. All the proposal could really do is remove Islam’s tax-free status.

The idea is destructive, too, because it appears predicated on the assumption that a “religion” would have to be good or prescriptive of peace. (In reality, many if not most religions in history, such as that of the human-sacrificing Aztecs, don’t meet that standard.) Yet this notion strays mighty close to Religious Equivalence Doctrine, which is corruptive because since different faiths espouse different values, not all faiths can be equal unless all values are. This is moral relativism, which has some serious implications.

For example, what differentiates different ideologies is also that they espouse different values. Yet if all values were equal, we couldn’t say that conservatism was any better than Nazism or Marxism. We rightly don’t believe this, of course, and we should apply the same standard to “religion.” To wit: religion isn’t bad, but there is bad religion.

In other words, if we refuse to make qualitative distinctions among religions — any group of religions — it implies that qualitative differences among values or value sets don’t exist. This would mean tolerance could be no better than intolerance, Christianity no better than Islam, and good will toward men no better than jihad.

Delving deeper, however, the truth is that, in the most important sense, the secular/religious distinction is a false one. Consider: If God exists, is it more significant that we label belief in Him “religious” or that it’s true? If Marxism is essentially a lie, is it more significant that we label it “secular” or that it’s untrue? The most important distinction, the only one that really matters, is the true and the untrue.

(Note: because we’ve lost sight of this, our courts now essentially say that Christianity cannot be in government schools but Marxism can. Ponder that.)

In the final analysis, people believe things. Some of those things are good and some of those things are bad. Some awfully bad things are believed by a large number of people today. If we want to survive, we’d better recognize what those things are and who promotes them — and act accordingly.

“We must stop all Muslim immigration because, in the end, those Muslims all intend to dominate and overrun our country. We need to stop this “oligarchy” by our votes.” FROSTY WOOLDRIDGE

BILL CLINTON SUCKS IN BRIBES FROM ISIS DONORS!

The Muslim Sheikhdom Qatar is a major sponsor of ISIS and global anti-American terrorism. How disturbing is it that Bill Clinton sucked in a bribe of ONE MILLION DOLLARS under the guise of a birthday gift? There is NO one the Clintons will not sell us out to and have already!

Hillary Clinton sucks in $28 Million Bribe From One of Her Muslim Dictators!

…. And their dirty money keeps rolling in!

With the influx of tens of thousands of Somalis have come numerous mosques and, of course, Islam

And, as you may have heard, Minnesota has the largest Somali population outside of Africa. Like many immigrants, no doubt, most came for new opportunity and jobs. Many also have come for some of the most generous welfare benefits in the nation.

Minnesota: Yes to Immigration, No to Jihad

The cold tundra of Minnesota was a foreboding land to early settlers. French fur traders came to the bountiful lakes of the Northern Territory in search of hides and pelts. German and Norwegian farmers came for some of the richest farmland in the world. Flour mills in Minneapolis hired Irish and Polish workers and iron ore mines on the great Mesabi Range brought in Swedish and Eastern European immigrants. Today, many immigrants come from Mexico and Central America. They work in restaurants, at summer farms, and on roofing and construction sites. Programmers from India and Asia work in the many high-tech jobs the Twin Cities provide. Except for the proud Native American tribes, some of whom have become very wealthy from casino gambling revenues, all citizens of Minnesota are or were descendants of immigrants.

And, as you may have heard, Minnesota has the largest Somali population outside of Africa. Like many immigrants, no doubt, most came for new opportunity and jobs. Many also have come for some of the most generous welfare benefits in the nation.Aided by many charities, notably Lutheran Social Services, Catholic Charities, and American Refugee Committee, Somali immigrants have transformed the face of Minnesota, not only in major cities like Minneapolis and St. Paul but in many outstate mid-size cities such as St. Cloud and Wilmar.

The exact number of the Somali community in Minnesota is a

matter of dispute. Minnesota officials put the number somewhere

between 30 to 40 thousand. Those in the Somali community put the number much higher. With many Somali refugees from other states moving to Minnesota, one of the highest birth rates of any

immigrant group in America, and numerous efforts made to resettle family members still in Somalia or in neighboring refugee camps in Kenya and Ethiopia, the real number of Somalis in Minnesota is probably closer, or soon will be, to 100,000.

With the influx of tens of thousands of Somalis have come numerous mosques and, of course, Islam. I grew up on the Eastside of Minneapolis. Full of historic Catholic Churches and many Polish and Eastern European surnames and delis, I don't recall a single mosque in the neighborhood. Now, in my neighborhood alone, I count at least a half dozen. Anecdotal evidence no doubt, but with 95 to 99 percent of Somalis identifying as Muslim, a building boom of mosques and Islamic Centers has occurred all over the City of Lakes and the North Star State. Good liberals praise the "increased diversity" of Minnesota and are quick to decry any real concerns as "Islamophobia". In 2015, Mark Dayton, bleeding heart governor of Minnesota, told a group of longtime residents in St. Cloud after recent problems between white and Somali students at schools in the area, that if they didn't like the new reality of tens of thousands of Muslim immigrants they should "find another state." Great. Minnesota is a welcoming state, except for those who have been here all their lives.

The Fifth Congressional district of Minnesota, anchored by the entire city of Minneapolis, has been represented by Keith Ellison for over a decade. Ellison, the first Muslim elected to Congress is seeking to run the DNC. Despite past ties to the Nation of Islam, Ellison is easily reelected every two years and has risen in national Democratic circles. In addition to Ellison, Minneapolis has elected Somalis to the city council and state legislature. This is not the Scandinavian and German enclave Minneapolis and much of Minnesota used to be.

With the largest concentration of Somalis in America, the local news is often full of stories about terrorist recruitment. Dozens of young Somali men have left Minnesota to fight with Al Shabaab, the Al Qaeda-sponsored group in Somalia. Six men were recently tried here in federal court for attempting to join ISIS. A knife-wielding man in St. Cloud attacked numerous people at a mall, stopping to cordially ask before stabbing if any were Muslim. Denying that Islamic extremists exist in the Somali community is like denying Minnesota winters are cold. Yet, the nonstop flow of Somali refugees continues. It is time for a pause

Minnesotans need a break. Our charity is exhausted, our Minnesota Nice worn out. Apart from terrorism, the state's social services have been greatly stressed. Public housing has long waiting lists, Section 8 apartments are full, welfare rolls have grown significantly and the number of refugees with dangerous and costly diseases like TB is substantial. Acknowledging real problems with refugees and real problems with Islamic terrorism is not racism or fear mongering, it is common sense.

For decades, liberal Europe encouraged Muslim immigration and turned a blind eye to radical clerics and segregated "no go zones". I am afraid the same reality has happened in Minnesota. Entire neighborhoods in Minneapolis, such as Cedar Riverside, dominated by low-income public housing high rises, are almost entirely Somali. Integration and assimilation have not occurred the way we were told by charities and Somali activists. A permanent, aggrieved underclass of Muslims ripe for radicalization is now the reality in the heartland of America. The parallels to France and other nations in Europe is both real and concerning. Numerous mass casualty attacks have now led many nations, including France, Belgium, and Germany, to reconsider their open border and immigration policies. Attacks in San Bernardino, Orlando, St. Cloud, and Columbus should lead us to do the same.

There is a real threat from radical Sunni Islam that cannot be ignored. I do not see Orthodox Jews flying airplanes into buildings. I do not see many Indian Hindu immigrants asking people their religion before stabbing them. And I do not recall many Mexicans pledging allegiance to a foreign religious group before killing dozens at a nightclub. We ignore reality when we refuse to acknowledge radical Islam for what it is... a grave and existential threat to America's national security. We need common sense when it comes to immigration, not just compassion.

Condemning radical Islam is not to condemn the entire religion. Years ago, many Catholics viewed attacks on pedophile priests as an attack on their religion. As a lifelong Catholic, a graduate of America's oldest Jesuit college (Georgetown University) and having a sister who is a Dominican nun, I will admit that I often dismissed claims of clergy sexual abuse as attacks on the Church and legitimate grievances against grandstanding bishops as "anti-Catholic rhetoric." I was wrong. There was a real problem in the Catholic clergy and a harmful defensiveness amongst Catholic bishops and protective laity. Denying the problem made it worse. Attacking those who told the truth ended up hurting the faithful, not helping them. Muslims who refuse to acknowledge radical Islam and the terrorism it breeds are only hurting the vast majority of Muslims who want peace.

We are a nation of immigrants. The frozen north of Minnesota was transformed into a productive, innovative, and enterprising territory because of immigrants. There is a reason companies like 3M, Medtronic, General Mills, and Cargill have prospered here. Minnesota is responsible for countless inventions, everything from toasters to thermostats to supercomputers and Black Box recording devices to cortisone, pacemakers and Scotch tape were invented here. We welcome and help people from all backgrounds and faiths. Minnesota has been especially generous in this regard. That is a good thing.

However, being a nation of immigrants does not mean we are a nation of idiots. We need a pause on immigration from countries that produce terrorists. We need a better system to vet and deport people who want to harm us and hate our way of life. We need an immigration system that considers the community that is already here instead of forcing tens of thousands of refugees on good but limited people. We need an immigration system that protects great states like Minnesota and realizes the true nature of radical Islam, not an immigration system that harbors terrorists and pushes liberal fantasies over common sense.

Cain Pence (no known relation to Vice President Mike Pence) is a Minneapolis based writer. Mr. Pence is a graduate of Georgetown University and has traveled extensively throughout all 50 states. His writings have appeared in numerous publications including The Hill, the Washington Times, the Washington Examiner, the Salt Lake Tribune, the Cleveland Plain Dealer, the Santa Fe New Mexican, the Minneapolis Post and others. He can be reached at caino@cainpence.com.

Sick ISIS savages film themselves burning two Turkish soldiers alive in disturbing new execution video after capturing them in Aleppo

WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT

The video shows the two victims taken from a cage in the middle of a desert

They are then walked like dogs to their death by sick Islamic State militants

Standing barefoot, they have their backs to the flames that eventually kill them

It is understood the two soldiers were Turkish, fighting to free the city of Aleppo